Mobile

Do you remember when using a computer meant being in your home or office and sitting at a desk? Or perhaps having a laptop to use in an airport, or restaurant? Times have changed quite a bit. Many of us now carry computers in our pockets and purses in the form of what we call “smart phones.” These devices are astonishing in their capability of computing power, and versatile functionality. Google recently announced that a significant threshold had been reached in the United States: the majority of Google searches are now executed on mobile devices.

Needless to say, the mobile revolution is a game changer when it comes to Internet marketing. Most businesses have been very slow in adapting their approach for this trend. Here are a couple areas of key importance when considering the popularity of mobile smart phone usage:

Websites

How does your website look when appearing on a mobile device? Is it user-friendly? Is it easy to navigate? The best way to make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices is to have what’s known as a “responsive” website. Responsive website technology has become the norm in the last couple of years, and is highly recommended by Google. With responsive websites, your website will conform and change shape depending on the device being used to view it.

There are two important reasons why you should have a responsive website:

1. They are more user-friendly, and can help your business convert more visitors into customers.
2. Google considers mobile optimization in its search engine ranking algorithm. So mobile optimization affects where you appear in Google search results.

Aside from using your own mobile device to see how your website looks on mobile, there is a great tool that can be used to see how your site looks on different types and models of mobile smart phones. Be sure to look at your site through this tool: http://mobiletest.me/

AdWords

Google AdWords is Google’s online advertising platform. It is immensely powerful, and can be an incredibly effective source of leads and customers for businesses. Considering mobile devices when doing this type of advertising is now absolutely crucial.

For AdWords advertising, mobile is different in several ways. For one thing, since the mobile device screen is much smaller than on a desktop, there is a lot less space to show ads. This makes the ad space more competitive. If you’re not ranking in one of the top spots, your ad will probably not show.

Another difference with mobile ads is that you have the option of having a text headline, or having your phone number appear in that space. What you choose depends on what action you’d like someone to take. If you would prefer that they call immediately, go with the phone number instead of the text headline

If you have call extensions enabled, the user will see a call button on their phone. If a user chooses to use it, the advertiser is charged for click. This action is something that can be counted AS A CONVERSION in AdWords.

There is a wide variety of ad types that can appear on mobile devices. Text ads can appear on mobile search results pages. They can also appear next to content on the Google display network.

There are several other ad types however that can show as mobile display ads, including: videos, images, and expandable ads that can be touched and expanded to cover the whole screen.